Watch Paparazzi

Athlete Johannes Thingnes Bø spotted wearing Richard Mille

When Johannes Thingnes Bø crossed the finish line at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to claim gold in the men's team sprint classic cross-country skiing event, he was doing something very few athletes — or watch collectors — ever do: competing at the highest level of professional sport while wearing a six-figure Richard Mille. That watch, a bespoke 38mm Richard Mille RM 67-02 Automatic Extra-Flat rendered in Norwegian flag colors, has since become one of the most talked-about wrist sightings of the Games.

The RM 67-02 is a genuine technical achievement within the Richard Mille catalogue. Launched as the brand's thinnest automatic model, the case measures just 7.75mm in height and is constructed from grade 5 titanium and Carbon TPT — or in athlete editions, materials chosen specifically for their strength-to-weight ratio. The movement, calibre CRMA7, is a skeletonized automatic with a variable-geometry rotor, delivering approximately 50 hours of power reserve. At 32 grams including strap, the RM 67-02 is lighter than most mechanical watches of any price point, let alone one retailing in the stratosphere.

Richard Mille has made a practice of commissioning athlete-specific RM 67-02 variants for its sporting ambassadors — Mutaz Essa Barshim, Wayde van Niekerk, and others have each received personalized iterations. Bø's version, incorporating the Norwegian tricolor into the case and movement architecture, belongs to this ultra-exclusive tier. These are not standard production pieces; they are effectively one-of-a-kind diplomatic objects between the brand and its sporting partners, which places them in a collector category of their own.

Johannes Thingnes Bø is widely regarded as the greatest biathlon athlete of his generation, holding multiple world championship titles and Olympic medals. His association with Richard Mille aligns with the brand's long-standing strategy of partnering with elite athletes who actually wear — and in some cases compete in — their timepieces, lending authenticity that pure luxury marketing cannot buy.

On the secondary market, athlete-edition RM 67-02 references command significant premiums over already elevated retail figures. With a grey-market valuation around $370,000, Bø's Norwegian-flag RM 67-02 sits firmly in serious collector territory — a watch that is simultaneously a sports artifact, a technical document, and a wearable piece of Olympic history.